Improvement in permutation locks



3 Sheets--Sheet ii SAMUEL MILLER1 Improvement in Permutation-Locks.

Patented April zum-1812.

.Eulen/Z072 SAMUEL MILLER. lm'provement in Permutation-Locks.

Patented Apri! 23,g 1872.

UNITED STATEs SAMUEL MILLER, OF GRATIS, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN PERMUTATION LOCKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 126,074, dated April23, 1872.

SrEcIrIcATIoN.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL MILLER, of Gratis, in the county of Prebleand State of Ohio, have invented certain new and usefulv Improvements inPermutation Locks; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereonwhich form a part of this specication.

The nature of my invention consists in themechanism for operating aninterior extensible rack-bar with projecting pin; also in a forkedhanging lever, operating in combination with a slide in the bolt; andalso in the mechanism immediately connected with the bolt, all of whichwill be hereinafter more fully set forth.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my inventionappertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe itsconstruction and operation, referring to the annexed drawing, in which-Figure l is a front view, and Fig. 2 a transverse vertical section of mylock. Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6 represent the tumblers. Fig. 7 represents theforked lever. Fig. Sis a view of the bolt with the mechanism connectedtherewith. Fig. 9 is a part of the operating mechanisln placed 011 thespindle of the lock 5 and Fig. l() is an end view of the sleeve on whichthe tumblers are placed.

A represents a portion of the door with the lock-case B firmly attachedon its inner side. On the outside of the door is an annular ring, O,with numbers 1 to 20, or any other desired numbers, marked thereon. D isa thimble passing through the door and lock-casing in the center of thering C, said thixnble being providedwith a disk, E, iittinginside of thering O, and provided with iignres corresponding with those on said ring.On the inner end of the thimble D is a cog-wheel, G, and through thethirnble is placed a spindle, I, havin g a knob, H, on its outer end,said knob coming close up to the outer end of the thimble. -0n the innerend of the spindle is a smaller knob, H', whichI secures the spindle sothat it cannot be withdrawn. In the knob H is a bolt, a, provided with athumb-piece, and forced by a spring into a hole or notch on the outerend of the thimble D, said thimble being provided with the same numberof holes or notches that there are figures on the ring O. By this meansthe thimble D will be turned when turning the knob, and by withdrawingthe bolt a the thimble may be turned independent of the knob andspindle. The spindle I is provided with a shoulder, b, and groove d, thethimble having also a corresponding shoulder, the object of the samebeing that, if burglars should by any means break the spindle, it willnecessarily break at the groove d, and it cannot be moved inward onaccount of said shoulders. Around' the spindle I and over the cog-wheelG is placed a box, J, having within it a rackbar, L, gearing with thewheel G, and the whole so arranged that by turning the thimble D alonethe rack-bar will be moved out or in, while by turning .the thimble andspindle together the box with rack-bar will be revolved without movingthe rack-bar either out or in. On the outer end of said rackbar is aninward-projecting pin, e. On a sleeve. D', attached to the inner part ofthe lock-case B, and fitting over the spindle I, are placed fourtumblers, K1, K2, K3, and K4, and a forked lever, K, the peculiarconstruction of which is shown in Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, respectively,said tumblers and levers being separated from each other and from thebox J by means of suitable collars or Washers.

It will be noticed, from the figures representing the four tumblers,that they gradually diminish in size, the iirst one, K1, being thelargest. The tumblers K1 K2 are toothed, as shown, and each providedwith an adjustable weight,j', for the purpose of changing thecombination. These tumblers must hang on the sleeve D according as theseweights are placed, and hence, by changing the position ot' saidweights, the position of the slots k1 and k2 in these tumblers is alsochanged. The weights are each fastened to its tumbler by a screw, asshown, and any desired number of holes may be made in each tumbler forchanging the position of the weight.

The tumbler Kl has one or more false teeth, h, which is intended to bethrown out so as to mislead anybody tampering with the lock. A similartooth may be placed on the second tumbler K2, if desired. The tuinblersK3 and K4 are irregular-shaped, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. All thetumblers have elongated or irregular-shaped holes, through which thesleeve D passes, so as to insure their hanging in their properpositions. Theyhave also each an elongated slot, marked k1, k2, k3, and7a4, respectively, and the tumblers K3 and K4 have, in addition, at

the side of their slots, a notch, t' or i', and a Y point, m or m',projecting from their lower ends. The lever K is forked at its lowerend, and has at its upper end an elongated hole to insure its hanging inthe proper position and allow it to slide upward. From near its lowerend a pin, e', projects outward toward the pin e ofthe rack-bar L.

M represents the bolt, which may be either attached to or connected witha plate, N, said plate being slotted longitudinally near the base, andprovided on its inner side with a slotted bar, O, forming a guide forthe movement of the slide P. This slide is provided with a pin, p,projecting through the'slot in the bar O into the forked end of thelever K. It has also on its upper side a point or projection, n. At theinner upper corner of the plate N is hung or pivoted a weight, R, whichis provided with a projection, r, and a point, s, as shown in Fig. 8.The bolt M is provided with a projection, x, for locking.

Over the plate N a spring may be arranged, and at the back of the platea stop to hold said plate andbolt in place should the safe be turnedover or upside down. In unlocking, the rear end of the plate is raisedup on the top of said stop.

The weight R and slide P are so constructed that, when the slide isplaced in a certain position and the weight then turned on its pivot,the points s and a on the same will engage with each other, as shown bydotted lines in Fig. S, and, consequently, if the motion or movement ofthat partofthe llock which caused the weight to turn on its pivot, asjust mentioned, is continued, the plate with the bolt will be movedinward and the lock opened. Hence the two main operations in unlockingare, iirst, to set the slide P in such a position that the point s onthe weight can engage with the point n on said slide when the weight isturned on its pivot; and, second, to cause the weight R to turn on itspivot, so that the said points will engage with each other. All themovements are to be made in accordance with a certain combination ofnumbers, which combination may be changed by the weightsf on thetumblers, as above described, or by changing or adjusting the pin p indifferent holes in the slide P.

The operation for unlocking the lock is as follows: The thimble D isiirst turned so as to let the rack-bar L out to its full length, when itis turned in the opposite direction one notch, (or more in some cases,)thereby drawing the rack-bar up again suiciently, so that by turning thespindle I to the left the pin e on the rackbar will strike the pin e onthe lever K, and thereby move the slide P. It may, however, in case ofany disarrangement of the lock, be necessary to turn the spindle one ortwo revolutions to the right {i1-st, so as to move the slide P to thefront end of the plate N. The move` ment of the spindle to the left iscontinued until a certain number on the disk E comes opposite a certainnumber on the ring C, when the slide P will be set in its properposition, which, as above mentioned, is the first requisite to unlockingthe lock. The spindle is then turned to the right till certain othernumbers come opposite each other, when the pin e will be directlyopposite to the slot L of the'ii-rst tumbler K1. Then, by drawing thespring-bolt a, the thimble is turned to the left, according to numbers,drawing the pin e on the rackbar into said slot k1 a short distance, butnot so far as to engage with the next tumbler. The spindle is now turnedto the left (it being, ofcourse, understood that whenever the spindle isturned the thimble D revolves with it) till certain numbers again comeopposite each other, thereby bringing the pin e opposite the slot k2 ofthe second tumbler, K2, when, by a similar movement of the thimble tothe left, said pin enters this slot for a certain distance, but not farenough to engage with the third tumbler. The spindle is now, accordingto numbers, turned a certain distance to the right, when, by a similarmovement of the thimble to the left, (also according to numbers,) thepin e is brought into the notch t' of the third tumbler. Now the spindlewith the three rst tumblers is turned to the left, according to numbers,and the thimble is then turned to the right two notches, (or accordingto numbers,) which removes the pin e from the notch z' and allows thetumbler K3 to fall of its own weight, with one side of the slot k3 uponthe pin e. By now, according to numbers, turning the thimble to theleft, the pin e is drawn up a certain distance into said slot 7c3. Inprecisely the same manner the fourth tumbler K4 is caught upon the pinc, and said pin is then drawn inward as far as possible. spindle to theleft, this pin e will strike the projection r on the weight It and turnsaid weight until its point s engages with the point n on the slide P,previously set, and, the weight not being able to pass beyond said pointn, the entire bolt is drawn back by the pin e.

It will readily be seen that nobody unacqnainted with the combinationcan open this lock, as the slightest movement ofthe tumblers K3 and K4in the wrong direction will cause a disarrangement of the slide P bymeans of their points m m striking the pin e on 'the lever K.

When the lock is open, extend the rack-bar L to its full length byturning the thimble D, and turn the spindle I to the right, when the pine on the rack-bar will strike the projection w on the bolt and lock thelock.

I do not confine myself to any specific number of tumblers, as anydesired number may be used.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, in a permutation lock, of the numbered ring C,numbered disk E, and

Now, by turning the the thimble D having holes or notches correspondingwith the numbers of the ring and disk, substantially as herein setforth.

2. The combination of the thimble D, spindle I with shoulder b andgroove d, and the knob H with spring-bolt a, all substantially as andfor the purposes herein set forth.

3. The combination ofthe thimble D with cog-Wheel G, spindle I, box J,and rack-bar L with pin e, all substantially as and for the purposesherein set forth.

4. The forked hanging lever K, provided with pin e', substantially asdescribed, in oombination with the slide P and pin p, as and for thepurposes herein set forth.

5. The combination of the tumblers K3 and `K4 with points m andm','lever K with pin e', and slide P with pin p, substantially as andfor the purposes herein set forth.

N, bar O, slide P with point n and adjustable pin p, and the Weight Rwith projection r and point s, all substantially as and for the purposesherein set forth.

In testimonyr that I claim the foregoingas my own I ax my signature inpresence of v two witnesses. j

SAMUEL MILLER.

Witnesses:

B. F. LARsH, H. B. VAN AUsDAL.,

